Reverdy Johnson

Reverdy Johnson (21 May 1796-10 February 1876) was a US Senator from Maryland (W) from 4 March 1845 to 7 March 1849 (succeeding William Duhurst Merrick and preceding David Stewart) and from 4 March 1863 to 10 July 1868 (succeeding Anthony Maryland and preceding William Pinkney Whyte), as well as US Attorney General from 8 March 1849 to 21 July 1850 (succeeding Isaac Toucey and preceding John J. Crittenden.

Biography
Reverdy Johnson was born in Annapolis, Maryland in 1796, and he became a lawyer in 1815. He served in the state legislature from 1821 to 1825 before practicing law for the next two decades. In 1845, he was elected to the US Senate as a Whig, and he served as Attorney General under President Zachary Taylor, resigning soon after Millard Fillmore took office. In 1857, he represented the slave-owning defendant in the controversial Dred Scott v. Sandford court case; he also represented Fitz John Porter at his court martial during the American Civil War. In 1860, he supported Democratic presidential nominee Stephen A. Douglas, and he served in the Senate from 1863 to 1868 as a conservative Democrat. While he personally opposed slavery, he opposed any wartime efforts to abolish it until 1864. In 1865, he defended Abraham Lincoln assassination conspirator Mary Surratt before a military tribunal, but she was convicted and executed. Johnson supported the Thirteenth Amendment and Reconstruction, and he served as ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1869. He died in 1876.